Thomas B Stevenson review of Chaos in Yemen

Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) Review Author(s): Thomas B. Stevenson Review by: Thomas B. Stevenson Source: Review of Middle East Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Winter 2013), pp. 235-237 Published by: Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43741464 Accessed: 12-07-2016 12:19 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Review of Middle East Studies This content downloaded from 142.150.190.39 on Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:19:23 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MESA I ROMES 1 47 2 I 2013 choose the form their government is to take. This background seems somewhat paradoxically to offer a more contingent defense of cAbd al-Raziq's claim, since rather than merely arguing that his is the only acceptable or true Islamic position, Ali places cAbd al-Raziq's notion of the caliphate as a human creation in a long line of caliphate theories adapted to political circumstances. However, this notion is superior, in Ali's view, for the values and motivations from which it emerges and to which it gives rise. The author's most lively discussion is found in the book's concluding chapter, where the author puts cAbd al-Raziq in conversation with secularists and Islamists who continue to debate past each other over questions related to Islam, the state, and the position of religion in society. Brief discussions of various national contexts (the Sudan, Afghanistan, and Egypt) are more suggestive and questioning than substantive. However, the aim of this chapter seems to be to reinvigorate the debate by re-inserting cAbd alRaziq's argument within it rather than to offer solutions, as Ali puts forth a passionate plea for intellectual openness to, and tolerance for, diverse and controversial perspectives. Although Ali cAbd al-Raziq wrote before political understandings of Islam had developed into a full-fledged ideological movement, Souad Ali's study should be of considerable interest to a wide audience seeking to gain an understanding of the intellectual antecedences and political stakes in contemporary debates on Islam and politics. I am sure I am not alone among those who teach courses in Islamic political thought in hoping that an English translation of 'Abd al-Raziq's original text will follow. Michaelle Browers Wake Forest University Isa Blumi. Chaos in Yemen: Societal Collapse and the New Authoritarianism. London & New York: Routledge, 2010. xvi + 208 pages, maps, list of abbreviations, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth US$140.00 ISBN 978-0-415-78077-3; Paper US$49.95 ISBN 978-0-415-62575-3. This book arrived just as I returned from Yemen, where supporters and opponents of President Ali Abdullah Salih had spent the first of what has become many months in a standoff over the country's political and economic future. Although Chaos in Yemen is not about these current events, the book contributes important background for understanding them, as well as the Huthi rebellion in the north, the secessionists and al-Qaeda in the south, and Salih's refusal to relinquish power. 235 This content downloaded from 142.150.190.39 on Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:19:23 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MESA I ROM ES I 47 2 I 2013 Isa Blumi's study is presented in five chapters. The opening chapter sets out the author's objectives: First, to critique the political and scholarly penchant to reduce complex social interactions to catchphrases, and second, to use historical analysis to show how the actions of President Salih have their origins in the relationship between the Ottomans and Yemen's imams. Blumi opens by attacking outside observers as well as educated inside commentators who misleadingly discuss and analyze Yemen's current situation via vacuous terms that do not inform, and are likely to harm, the Yemeni people. He refers particularly to the tendency for Yemen to be discussed as a tribal society without reference to what this means. During the recent protests, for example, the press, including some Yemeni newspapers, described the surge of the President's tribal supporters into the capital. The impression was of armed loyalists poised for combat. In fact, the "tribesmen" were unarmed and were drawn more by free food, qat (a mild plant stimulant), and a retainer, than they were by ancient allegiances. Observers' use of such in-the-know glosses, as "failed state" or "burka," even if intended to convey meaning, are obfuscations. Blumi's concern is that these misusages are likely to influence outsider perceptions and so further hurt an already weak state. I am sympathetic with Blumi's concern for how this discourse may harm ordinary Yemeni and with his effort to redirect the dialogue in more accurate terms. However, the anger or frustration that comes across in his discussion is overdone. Having set out the problems that reductionism has inserted in understanding Yemeni political history, in the second chapter Blumi offers his interpretation that it is not national structures which control events, but the interaction of micro-level elements with the state. The power flow is bidirectional; sometimes the state achieves it goals, and sometimes it is local entities that succeed. Relationships are, and have been, fluid. Blumi sees the origins of these articulations in the second Ottoman occupation, during which the loyalty of local leaders and their adherents was suborned by the government. Governing through personal transactions became the pattern that has persisted with some variation since, as described in the subsequent two chapters. Of particular interest is Blumi's analysis of Yemeni unification and its aftermath, during which President Salih enhanced his authoritarian control by the judicious manipulation of state assets. This included allocating portions of state revenue to strategic individuals. But given the state's limited assets, Salih has contributed to the country's image as a haven for foreign interventionists, al-Qaeda, Iran, and Islamists, whose presence is enhanced by the state's need for outside financial assistance. The more the state fails to counter these forces, the greater potential there is for aid. The validity of Blumi's point has been made clear in recent months as the US and other states have dithered 236 This content downloaded from 142.150.190.39 on Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:19:23 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MESA I R 0 M E S ! 47 2 I 2013 over support for either democracy protesters or for Salih. The latter's trump card was the apparent resurgence of terrorist activities. Blumi's study is innovative and timely. In addition to offering a new perspective, it introduces new data. The argument is well-structured, convincing and sophisticated. This is laudable, but while academics will read this, the author's hostile style in some parts, and somewhat disjointed presentation in others, will discourage those most in need of having their simplistic preconceptions challenged. This is regrettable for both readers and author. ^ Thomas B. Stevenson Ohio University, Zanesville Nathan J. Brown. When Victory Is Not An Option: Islamist Movements in Arab Politics. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2012. xii + 272 pages, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth US$69.95 ISBN 978-0-8014-5036-5; Paper US$24.95 ISBN 978-0-8014-7772-0. History and anthropology-based Orientalism in Middle East studies is weakening its hold as a result of emerging diverse scholarship in the postSeptember 11th era. Scholarship is moving from a colonial mentality to a modern, cost-benefit form of analysis. More diverse views are being heard in Western academia as ethnically Middle Eastern scholars emerge in all fields of the social sciences. Nathan Brown's book is a good representation of this trend. He provides comparative perspective on the cases of Islamic movements in Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, and Palestine, and addresses the complex question of how Western governments should respond to the growing trend of democratic Islam. Islamic movements are unique social movements with complex organizational structures. Over the years, they have transformed from community-based, anti-colonial and sharìa-based movements, to modern political parties. According to Brown, this ongoing transformation shapes Islamic movements' understanding of the modern political system and vice versa. Brown examines the participation of Islamic movements in the democratization process, about which he is optimistic. For Brown, Arab states are neither democratic nor completely authoritarian. Islamist movements could not fully participate in the political process he describes as being more open, but also characterized by unfair elections. Brown clearly understands that Islamic movements have a broad and diverse political agenda. 237 This content downloaded from 142.150.190.39 on Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:19:23 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms